A Beginning
by Golden Snitch1981
Summary: A very special elf is born....


The kitchen of Malfoy Manor was in a stir. A small house elf lay in pain under the large bench. A mixture of anguish, fear and excitement clouded her face; anguish, for she'd never felt such pain, fear, for she knew what would come if Master found her like this and excitement, for the small creature that had grown inside her and was ready to enter the world.

Master called her Dorothy, but all the elves knew her as "Dottie", and it had been that way since she, herself, had made the journey into the world and peered into her mother's eyes for the first time.

Now she was bringing her own child into the world; a boy she hoped, so she could name him after his father, who died, while aiding Albus Dumbledore in his defeat of Grindalwald.

She remembered the night before that fateful event.

"_Must you go away," Dottie cried. She flung her arms around his next, and wished she would never have to let him go._

"_My Love, I must," he insisted "Master, Dumbledore needs me. I need to help Master."_

"_Then take me with you!" She begged. "I can help, too. Don't leave me here!"_

"_But you need to stay and help your Master." He said. _

"_But my Master, Malfoy is a bad man! He uses me to hurt people. Sometimes he kills them! I get scared. Take me away."_

"_Godric's Hollow is a dangerous place at the moment. Not the place for beautiful lady elves. You must stay here, just a little bit longer." Then he reassured her, "I will return for you I promise. And I will marry you and take you away, I promise. Just lay low and do what master says – just for awhile. I'll miss you." He held his hand out to Dottie._

"_I'll miss you too," said Dottie as she took his hand and placed it on her heart. Then she placed her own on his. Their hearts lit up with a golden white light, which radiated, lighting up the entire kitchen. Then another purple light began to grow in Dottie's stomach. What have we done? She asked herself, in a panic, but the warmth that radiated with this light, was somehow reassuring. Somewhere in her mind she heard a voice say it would be alright._

"_This is destiny!" These words, which seemed to come from nowhere, were all needed to here._

_The wrinkled hands on each other's hearts and the power of their love was enough to ignite the spark that would continue to grow inside of Dottie; the spark of destiny._

_The next day he was shot by the force of Grindalwald's power as he stepped in front of Dumbledore to shield him from the avada kadavra curse. Albus Dumbledore himself had delivered the news to Dottie, who collapsed with despair._

"_NO!" she cried. "We were going to marry! He was going to take me away from here! Sir I is scared!"_

"_Dottie, I know things are what they should be, but believe me it all has a purpose." Dumbledore assured her. "He died while carrying the bravest acts. He had more courage, by far than any wizard, could ever have. He shielded me from the avada kedavra curse. He took the fall, and that I will be eternally indebted to him."_

"_But now I have his child. Sir, Whatever will I do without him?" Dottie asked._

"_Your child will play an integral role in the events that will follow, long after you and I are gone. The child will restore the status of house elves to what it should be. The child will be an inspiration to wizards and elves alike." He pointed his wand at the elf's stomach, where the small but very powerful elf was growing and closed his eyes. In the distance a phoenix could be heard. It song rang gallantly in the air._

To this day she clung to Dumbledore's words and his blessings and the hope he'd given her for the fate of the child; a child she would keep secret from master, for if it had any chance of fulfilling destiny and leading the plight of house elves, it would not be as a common house elf such as she. So long as the child remained a free elf,Dottie expected it would have full use of his powers.

Now it was time for the child to born. The other house elves gathered around her in support while one elf kept watch in case master was coming.

Blade Malfoy was very powerful in the wizarding world. As secretary to the Minister of Magic, he was trusted to carry out much of the Minister's bidding, and much that was not. He was also a patron of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where his son, Lucius attended, and was in his sixth year. He had also gone to that school as many generations of wizards before him.

No witch or wizard had ever matched him in power, and he believed they never would. One race of creatures could, if only they were freed; house elves like Dottie. Their oppression meant the stripping of many of their powers, except for those which their masters found useful. Dottie's powers were used to read the minds of other wizards, which Master had often done in order to decide whether to trust another wizard with dealings or seek out information withheld from him.

Dottie yearned to be free, for she'd seen the consequences of having that power. She'd seen wizards fall victim to cruciatus, curses as well as the dreaded avada kadavra curse, from information she'd given to Master . She'd hoped that her child would have all of its powers, so long as Master didn't know it existed. All the house elves that lived and worked at Malfoy hoped that this child would be the key to their freedom, for without that child, their only hope would be to receive a gift, from Master, which they could wear. They all knew that would never happen.

The tears kept flowing as pain ripped through Dottie's stomach, far worse than any of Master's punishment methods. Her ocean blue eyes were wide with alarm as another pain shot through her, forcing a deafening scream. Master would surely be wondering what all the commotion was about. Suddenly footsteps were heard in the hall. Master. The elves flew into a fit of panic as the doorknob turned. Tinky held her hand over Dottie's mouth to muffle her cries of pain. Then Chalky had an idea. He ran to where the wooden oven was and pulled open the large door. He screamed I excruciating pain as he placed his arm on the iron plate, burning his arm. He them removed his arm, closed the door and waited for the inevitable.

"And what may I ask is going on in here?" boomed master's voice as he entered the room. All Dottie could see from her spot under the bench was his feet, hidden under an emerald coloured robe.

"Chalky is sorry for making such noise, Sir, but Chalky had a nasty accident. Chalky has burned hi arm on the oven, sir."

"Is that so?"Master replied."Well we'll have to see to getting that fixed up. He held his wand to the elf's arm and shouted 'reparo!', instantly healing the wound. "There. Now that your arm is better, I believed there is some laundry to be done, and I don't want to be disturbed with anymore racket from you lot."

"Yes, Master," Chalky and followed Master from the kitchen. He turned and winked at Dottie before closing the door behind him.

Tinky uncovered Dottie's mouth and Dottie bit hard on her bottom lip to stop herself from letting another piercing scream. This pain was the worst of all and all Dottie could do was push with all her might.

"I is scared Tinky." Dottie sobbed. "What if master had seen me like this, he would surly know something was wrong!"

"But he didn't, Dottie, thanks to Chalky" Tinky said.

Tinky remembered the birth of her own child, Winky. not long before. She remembered how master had caught her feeding him, instead of cleaning the house, and punished her, worse than ever before. Master had ripped the child from her arms, and was never seen again, in Malfoy Manor. Later she'd discovered a contract which had outlined the sale of one house elf to Bartholomew Crouch. Tinky suspected it was her Winky. She'd hated master ever since. Now her dear sister was having her child and Tinky vowed that she would sooner die then let what had happened to Winky happen to this child.

As Dottie pushed one last time, she began to feel exhausted, but all the pain was worth it when moments later she was staring at her newborn son. He opened his green eyes, yawned and stretched.

"Hello, little Dobby," she said, softly. She thought how proud Dobby Senior would have been to see his beautiful new son. I fresh tear of joy, mixed with sadness, trickled down her wrinkly cheek. I know you'll do great things when you grow up; and make elves a proud race once more. Dobby let out another yawn and a small smile was visible on the little elf's face.

"Promise me you'll take care of him," Dottie pleaded with Tinky.

"We all will," Tinky reassured the new mother. "Just as I know you will."

"I'm weak," Dottie then whispered.

_Flashes of her son, all grown up, standing beside a boy wizard with a lightening scar, appeared before her eyes._

"_Master has given Dobby a sock! Master gave it to me." He'd said delighted._

"_What's that? What did you say?" a grown up Lucius had demanded, disgusted._

"_Dobby has a sock! Master threw it and Dobby caught it and Dobby – Dobby is free!" the elf exclaimed with joy._

"_You lost me my servant, boy!" Lucius lunged at the boy who had clearly tricked him into losing his elf, but was suddenly shot backwards down the stairs. "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" Dobby cried._

_As Lucius stood up and pulled out his wand, Dobby raised his finger to the wizard._

"_You shall not touch Harry Potter!"_

_Dobby looked up at the boy in admiration. "Harry Potter freed Dobby! Harry Potter set Dobby Free!"_

_Then the images swirled as if being stirred in a pensieve. Suddenly, the same boy with the lightening scar was kneeling, holding Dobby close to his chest and sobbing! Many other wizards gathered around them. Then Dottie's mind's eye flashed to a plaque, where the words; 'HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF!' had been engraved._

Dottie sighed contently knowing that Dobby's destiny would be fulfilled. Dottie's mind flashed back to the present, at the tiny elf lying in her arms. "You'll be alright, Dobby," she whispered to he child. He blinked twice and then closed his eyes "I promise." Then, all she could do was close her own eyes. That was the last time little Dobby would ever look into the eyes of his mother.


End file.
